My invention relates to driving tools and, more particularly, to driving tools having barrel assemblies which can be loaded by pivotally opening the barrel to expose the bore thereof at its connected end.
Many driving tools have been developed for driving fasteners into workpieces. Two of the problems associated with such tools involve the loading of the tools and the aligning of the fasteners within the tools. Most tools merely are positioned over a fastener which is thereafter driven into the workpiece. The chance of misaligned and "walking" fasteners remains high with such tooling. In addition, the manual positioning of a fastener does not lend itself to an efficient and labor savings construction or industrial application. Cartridge type loading mechanisms remain complex in design and not readily amenable to wide ranges of fastener sizes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,964, I disclosed a quick opening barrel with a quick disconnect feature for a power actuated driving tool in which a driver is actuated by a caseless powder load. However, the problems presented with a standard driving tool are different since the driver must be connected to the torquing mechanism in the tool and must be extendable through the barrel so as to engage the fastener. Therefore, to use such a quick opening barrel, the driver must be out of the way in the nondriving or relaxed position. Further, if the fastener is not held by hand, it must be properly aligned so when it is engaged by the driver, it will penetrate directly and vertically into the workpiece.